Arduino enthusiasts know that Arduino is more than just a prototyping board; it’s the heart of the maker community, driving projects ranging from clocks to IoT devices and robotics. If you’re looking to create your own gadgets, mastering Arduino is essential.
Before diving into complex projects, understanding Arduino programming and becoming familiar with the components and sensors you can utilize is key. That’s where this Best Courses Guide (BCG) comes in.
Based on my experience in electronics and Arduino, I’ve curated this BCG featuring top online courses to help you kickstart your Arduino journey and enhance your skills in electronics and programming. Whether you’re a complete beginner or looking to expand your knowledge, this guide has something for everyone.
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What to Buy?
For those new to Arduino, remember that you don’t need to spend a lot to get started. You can practice and simulate circuits using Tinkercad, a free online simulator. The initial three courses in this guide are also entirely free, allowing you to follow along without breaking the bank. Once you’re comfortable with the basics and ready to set up your electronics lab, you can consider making purchases.
I’ve listed the components you’ll require in the course descriptions. Additionally, starter kits are available online containing common basic components, as discussed in this article on r/Arduino. The r/Arduino community is a fantastic resource for learning, seeking project assistance, and gaining inspiration from fellow enthusiasts.
Get ready to have fun!
Courses Overview
- 3 courses are free, and 2 are paid
- 6.7K learners follow the Arduino subject on Class Central
- Courses in this guide have amassed over 7.8M enrollments and views
- YouTube and Udemy are the primary providers, each offering 2 courses
The Arduino Tutorials on the Paul McWhorter YouTube Channel are perfect for beginners, providing a hands-on introduction to Arduino over 32 hours. This free series covers everything you need to start with Arduino, from setting up and programming your board to working with sensors, actuators, and components.
Paul McWhorter makes learning enjoyable with step-by-step instructions and practical applications. You’ll start experimenting with your board right from the first class, with a simple blinking LED test. The tutorials are designed to allow you to skip topics you’re already familiar with without missing critical content.
While the course doesn’t include materials and exercises, it offers ample information to create exciting projects with basic components. If you lack the necessary hardware, such as the Arduino UNO, resistors, breadboard, sensors, etc., you can follow along using Tinkercad, a free web app for designing circuits and Arduino projects.
In this course, you’ll learn:
- Setting up and programming Arduino for absolute beginners
- Understanding LEDs, breadboards, and various sensors
- Utilizing Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and reading analog voltages
- Serial communication, including reading data from the serial monitor
- Using RGB LEDs, buzzers, photoresistors, and pushbuttons
- Controlling servos, DC motors, and stepper motors
- Delving into advanced topics like shift registers, LCD displays, and infrared remote control.
“This is one of the very few teachers I have seen that doesn’t assume the viewer already understands the program and the procedures. He walks you through every step, without skipping anything. That is greatly appreciated, and every online teacher should be following this model.” – @maskedmarvyl4774, YouTube learner.
| Provider | YouTube |
| Channel | Paul McWhorter |
| Instructor | Paul McWhorter |
| Workload | 32 hours |
| Views | 5.4M |
| Cost | Free |
| Certificate | None |
Arduino Course for Beginners – Open-Source Electronics Platform serves as a stepping stone to understanding the C++ programming language in relation to Arduino using the official IDE. In just 4 hours, you’ll grasp how this language interacts with the board, communicates with sensors and onboard LEDs, and utilizes built-in functions.
Ashish Bansal provides detailed explanations of Arduino UNO basics and the programming required to make it operational, making this course suitable for individuals with minimal coding or electronics knowledge. Even if you possess some background in these areas, this course can help fill in gaps, such as comprehending how programming is stored in the Arduino UNO, strategies for computer communication, and practical examples in basic yet real projects.
If you lack the necessary hardware (Arduino UNO board and components), you can follow the course using Tinkercad. The course includes the following circuits:
This free course is well-structured and covers a natural progression of topics. However, it lacks challenges and coding exercises commonly found in more traditional courses.
In this course, you’ll learn:
- Basic electronics concepts like voltage, current, and resistance
- Different Arduino boards and their components
- Arduino IDE installation and utilization
- Fundamental Arduino programming, covering variables, data types, and control structures
- Exploration of built-in Arduino functions and libraries for advanced projects.
“The course was crisp and informative at the same time. It gave a good insight into online simulators as well. It may help people who don’t have the hardware with them. As the videos are shorter, it is easy to concentrate and complete the course within a short period of time.” – Vishnu Priya N.
| Provider | YouTube |
| Channel | freeCodeCamp.org |
| Instructor | Ashish Bansal |
| Workload | 4 hours |
| Views | 2.3M |
| Thumbs up | 60K |
| Cost | Free |
| Quizzes/Assessment Items | Tinkercad circuits and coding examples |
| Certificate | None |
Interfacing with Arduino teaches you to connect sensors, actuators, and shields to your Arduino board, enabling interaction with the world around it. In this free-to-audit course, you’ll master using and programming various sensors and actuators, converting analog signals to digital, and expanding Arduino’s capabilities using shields and libraries.
This course is part of a specialization covering embedded systems, the Raspberry Pi Platform, and Arduino environment for IoT device creation.
Professor Ian Harris delivers engaging lectures, making this course ideal for learners familiar with Arduino board essentials, IDE, shields, and C programming. These topics are covered in the preceding course of the series, The Arduino Platform and C Programming. However, if you completed the freeCodeCamp course mentioned earlier, you should be well-prepared.
If you lack the required hardware, you can use Tinkercad to follow along. Note that the simulator does not support the final assignment involving working with Ethernet and WiFi shields, making this portion challenging to complete.
In this course, you’ll learn:
- Basics of hardware design and circuit wiring using a breadboard
- Arduino interfacing with various sensors and actuators
- Utilization of Arduino software libraries for simplified hardware interactions
- Enhancing Arduino functionality using shields for wired and wireless connectivity.
“This course reviews a lot from the one before in the series but is very informative and hands-on (as long as you have an Arduino.)” – Ellie Ireland, Coursera learner.
| Provider | Coursera |
| Institution | University of California, Irvine |
| Instructor | Ian Harris |
| Part of | An Introduction to Programming the Internet of Things (IoT) Specialization |
| Workload | 11 hours |
| Enrollment | 111K |
| Rating | 4.7 (3.8K) |
| Cost | Free to Audit |
| Quizzes/Assessment Items | Quizzes, peer-graded assignments (for paid learners), and in-video questions (free) |
| Certificate | Yes, paid |
Arduino Step by Step Getting Serious is a comprehensive course from Tech Explorations designed for intermediate makers looking to enhance their Arduino skills. This course guides you through creating Arduino gadgets that can communicate, move, interact, measure, and detect. With over 30 hours of video content split into 40 sections and over 250 lectures, the course delves into advanced Arduino topics.
This course is ideal for individuals with basic Arduino knowledge who are ready to tackle challenging projects. It isn’t suitable for complete beginners and requires specific materials that can be acquired based on the module you’re following. For instance, Section 2 necessitates the BME280 environment sensor, your board, and a few other basic components. The instructor provides a list of materials for each section individually.
In this course, you’ll learn:
- Utilization of communication technologies like WiFi, BLE, and radio
- Control servo, DC, and stepper motors with various controllers
- Working with LCD, OLED, and TFT screens featuring buttons and touch interfaces
- Data storage in external mediums like SD cards and EEPROM
- Optimization of sketches for improved performance and efficiency
- Controlling extensive loads like relays and lights, enhancing button reliability with hardware debouncing
- Exploring advanced environment, motion, position, and GPS sensors
- Networking with Ethernet and WiFi, communicating via Bluetooth and packet-based radio.
“Well organized, easy to follow, engaging. This is an excellent course which I would highly recommend for anyone wanting to learn Arduino at an intermediate level. The lecturer is great, and I love the detailed organization!” – Gabriel L., Udemy learner
| Provider | Udemy |
| Institution | Tech Explorations |
| Instructor | Dr. Peter Dalmaris |
| Workload | 36 hours |
| Enrollment | 23K |
| Rating | 4.5 (1.5K) |
| Cost | Paid |
| Materials | Sketches and circuit schematics provided |
| Certificate | Yes |
With a solid foundation in Arduino, it’s time to explore the various
